State senator thrown off GOP slate polls supporters on independent run

View full size(AP Photo/Mickey Welsh, The Montgomery Advertiser)State Sen. Harri Anne Smith, seen here in 2001, is asking supporters whether they would back her in an independent run for re-election. Smith was disqualified from the Republican ballot this weekend.

Smith
sent an e-mail Monday to supporters asking them if they want her to run
as an independent in her Senate district that includes Geneva, Dale and
Houston counties.

She did not immediately respond to a call
seeking comment Monday.

An elections attorney for the Alabama
Secretary of State's Office, Rob Johnston, says Smith must submit a
petition with names of 3 percent of the voters in the last governor's
election in her district, or about 1,065, to run as an independent. The
deadline is 5 p.m. June 1.